Welcome to the Piano World Piano ForumsOver 2 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Thanks JW. That's very nice to say. I find it much easier to play the acoustic than the digital piano, so that helps a lot.

It's funny you mention about the bass player. He is actually one of the guys that I play with who makes it easy for me. I don't have to work hard, things swing a lot easier. And he says the same about me, so we end up getting along. Though we don't often play together, but I always look forward to it.

I have a whole bunch more tracks, my buddy is trying to mix them better than I did. Might come out slightly better. It's all the zoom, which I thought made the piano sound pretty decent.

I just got back from Seattle, going to Keith Jarrett's show last night. Still on cloud nine. Man I was floored. Beautiful music and a great vibe, he didn't say anything snarky to the audience. They played 4(!!) encores, the crowd loved it.

Here's the tunes he played that I recognized: Blame it on my Youth, Fever, Answer me my love, God Bless the Child, When I fall in Love... lots more stuff. One tune I never heard before, In Your Own Sweet Way.

Funny I look it up and it's a Dave Brubeck song. I will have to learn that one.

The piano wasn't miked up too loud, I was in the 15th row and had a somewhat hard time hearing the piano. I can't imagine those 30 rows back or up in the higher balconies (there were 3 tiers, quite the setup).

Thankfully in the second set they turned it up slightly.

I can check off seeing one of my favourite pianists live now, maybe the only thing that could top it is going to a solo show. But he's playing only 4 shows in the USA this year so I'm thankful I could even see him.

So I've been busy for months, working my proverbial ass of, transferring hand-written scores into Finale - then creating the parts, proofreading, making suggestions, making changes (please repeat x amount) and then rehearsing the material together with the composer. 6 new pieces for big band (54 minutes total), commissioned by one of the great European big bands (Bohuslän Big band - this is a full time working big band, subsidised by private and governmental means). The music was great (well still is), the band is stupendous (amazing readers), they swing like a mutha!I'll post a tune or two once the video is edited and the rights are sorted out.But here's a clip from a sound-check, Monica Dominique (the composer) is at the piano, singing (the song "Hey, John" written by Blossom Dearie, here with Swedish lyrics) together with three of Sweden's great on their respective instruments. This is swinging melodic piano playing.

Ps: she's old enough to be a grand-mother to some of you. Swing, groove and love and music knows no age limits.

Saw Fred Hersch's trio last night at UC Davis. I couldn't see his bassist or drummer from where I was seated, but that said, I had the best view of his left hand of anyone, being about 15 feet and roughly 200 degrees back from him. It was a great blend of his tunes - new and old - and some free jazz a la Ornette Coleman. He segued into several with long romantic solo introductions which I really enjoyed.

Haven't seen Fred Hersch live yet but I'll have to satisfy myself with many of his records. That's great you got to see him. I wasn't sure he was going to make it. He was preparing his legacy there for awhile, already planning to be gone...How did he look? Later videos show him looking much better.

Hey JWFrom reading in between the lines of his interviews, his long coma had implications for his approach to improvisation. He said something like "I am always prepared to take a risk. So what if I make a mistake ? No-one's going to die from my mistake. I was the one who died".

He looked good and pretty spry (he opted to jump up on and off the stage rather than take the stairs a few feet away). I imagine he has to be doing pretty well with the rather busy concert schedule he and his trio are following. One thing I did notice, which I've noticed in other videos of his and thought was odd, was his use of band-aids on various fingers while playing - though, maybe he just gets cuts frequently.

Yeah, custard, on the same topic of the coma, though, I read Hersch present it to the Miami Herald in a more positive light -

A smart, lyrical pianist and composer with a distinctive sound and an unassuming manner, five-time Grammy nominee Fred Hersch is one of the most important jazz musicians of his generation.

But that’s just part of his story.

Diagnosed as HIV-positive in the mid 1980s, Hersch developed AIDS-related dementia in 2008. Comatose for two months, he recovered only after an eight-month ordeal in which he was bed-bound and intubated, unable to speak or swallow, weighing barely more than 100 pounds at his lowest point. He required extensive physical therapy to walk again and regain full use of his hands.

Hersch, 57, not only recovered, but went back to work with a vengeance, assembling a terrific new trio that he brings to Davie’s Miniaci Performing Arts Center Saturday night, presented by South Florida Jazz.

“Going through a near-death experience and coming out the other side, it’s got to change your life,” he says in a telephone interview from Missoula, Mont. “People tell me that my playing is looser and freer than it was. I’ve always kind of gone for it, but now there is really no reason to hold back.”

The band aids are probably from bleeding. Maybe he's on anti-coagulation meds (Coumadin) etc. so you easily bleed. I haven't booked to watch any concerts in town and I guess he's also in the LA area right now. I see also he's booked in LA for next May. Sounds like I'll get some opportunities to see him.

I've made a point of watching old-timers because I may not have an opportunity to listen to them again. For example, Chick, Herbie, Wayne Shorter, Benny Golson, Barry Harris etc. are getting up there in years. You never know...and you could lose seeing a bit of history.

Love that cut. The only thing that seems a bit fusiony to me is when HH changes to an electronic keyboard need the end. Prior to that, it's all jazz to me!

Herbie's solos, to me, don't have an arc of a story with a beginning and end. Rather, it's like he is an endless font of incredibly ideas that just spew out of him. I feel like he could go on forever, and I'd be happy to just keep listening.

Fusion-y in the rhythm section which drives a different style of soloing (phrasing, etc.). Tremendous solo by Herbie IMO. Pat Metheny was cookin' but not in the same way Herbie was. There really was so much stuff going on there. A lot of exploration going on to my ears, but typical Herbie stuff.

Rhythmically, it takes so much chops to play like this. I'd probably still be struggling at 3/4 this tempo if I tried to play like Herbie. Of course it's easy to simplify.

I agree that Metheny was good, HH was outrageous. HH can play, brilliantly, in virtually any style. Was recently listening (on Spotify) to a Grant Green CD called Feelin the Spirit which is Green's jazzy take on gospel music. HH is the keyboard player and plays this rollicking gospel infused style like that's what he'd done his whole life.

Thanks Mark ! I had no idea Dave Holland was from the UK. I actually was in Isle of Wight last year and missed out on the pop festival by one week.I think that jazz artists who can switch to commercial music are pretty amazing and versatile. A few years ago I was listening to Donald Byrd on myspace and thinking "huh ? Is this the Donald Byrd bebopper on Lush Life ?"

Me -- just black. Band uniform. Nothing fancy though. Black T-Shirt is fine for us for normal gigs.

a kimono and a wig ofc

LOL.

To me, appearance in jazz distracts from the music. By the same token, my band doesn't talk much during gigs. I don't like over-talky singers either. But on instrumental gigs, we are quiet and only the music is heard.